May 3, 2011

Horchata de arroz is a deliciously refreshing Mexican beverage made from rice, milk, sugar and cinnamon and served chilled over ice. Wonderful for those who are lactose intolerant if you substitute the milk for almond milk.

Similar to my Avena recipe, which is made with cooked oatmeal instead, this is a great raw alternative and naturally gluten-free. It's usually made with white rice but I experimented with brown rice and raw sugar and the results were lovely. Sweeten to your taste or even experiment with stevia for those of you on a restricted sugar diet.

Soak the rice overnight or at least 8 hours in water with cinnamon sticks.

The next day discard cinnamon sticks and blend the rice and water in your blender water at the highest speed for about 5 minutes. Pass through a fine mesh sieve about two times to catch all the gritty bits. (A stocking works great) Discard the remaining rice pulp.

Pour into a pitcher, add skim milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla and mix well by stirring. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve fill a glass with ice, pour horchata into a glass and sprinkle a little cinnamon on each serving just before drinking.

*This was tricky to calculate, I discarded about 1/2 cup rice pulp so I deducted this from nutritional info.

btw, I've owed you a comment many recipes ago... I've been lurking (and not knowing how to to comment). I ENJOY your recipes so much, they really are fab, easy and GOOD! I'm hispanic so I love your 'style'Thank you so much!

oh, i love horchata! i just posted about it a few weeks back. i was missing it hugely since moving out of the US.

i love your version with brown rice and will try that next time! also, i ground up all the rice dry, then added the "rice meal" to the milk + water + cinnamon sticks to soak overnight. perhaps doing it your way and soaking the rice overnight would make it easier to grind in the food processor?

Yum. I adore horchata so I LOVE that you have a figure friendly version. I usually make mine with vanilla soy milk and almonds (per a Rick Bayless recipe I love) for a fuller flavor, but they both definitely add the calories. I'm curious to see how this compares and also how using brown rice would stack up against using white. I have a cinqo de mayo themed party coming up so I may have to try this and compare.

I had to comment and say thank you for your awesome blog. I know it's allot of work but I use it everyday and I'm sure so many others do too. I've made your meals for the last two weeks and they are so tasty and easy. (quick too)

I just finished planning a week's worth of meals only using your recipes! So far, so AMAZING. Your aji verde sauce (from your peruvian chicken recipe) is ON POINT. i love your site and will be using it often! oh and brown rice orchata? GENIUS. thanks!

Just soaked my rice (white) last night with cinnamon sticks. Blended in my Vitmaix this morning. Do you get a lot of leftover pulp, cuz when i poured into a fine strainer i didn't see anything left!? So I poured the pureed rice water in a jar along with vanilla and cinnamon. Was off to work but had to try some so I poured a little milk in a glass with a little stevia to sweeten, added ice cubes and poured the horchata mix in the small glass. Gone in seconds! And guess what? When I got home I did the same thing except it was a LARGE glass this time! Fun and simple. Thanks!!

Thanks for this recipe! I'm hoping to try this on my pregnant mother soon. She is very particular with her sweets and I'm hoping she'll like this skinny version. Thank you for helping me master my trickery of healthy drinks and meals~ No one will ever suspect it!

Just found this recipe! It's 11pm and it motivated me to get off the couch, find my rice and cinnamon, and give it a soak. I can not wait until tomorrow morning to try it! Your blog is amazing! I may have just fallen in love a little bit. Yep, it's love.

My family is having a Mexican themed Mother's Day celebration so this is the perfect treat to bring to spoil my grandmother, aunts and of course my mom. I LOVE your recipes Gina. I am getting married in May of next year and I have been furiously writing down all your recipes for when me and my fiance move in together. Thank you for being a life savor! Best